Master of Negotiations
by Crazy Girl Person
Summary: Some may call him a difficult man, but none can deny that Sidney Kasal has never lost a fight.


Master of Negotiations

Sidney narrowed his eyes as his opponent reflected off his glasses.

"I hope you're not expecting me to compromise."

With one fist clenched behind his back, he presented his offer once again, only to have it rejected. He pushed his glasses slightly, hiding the annoyed twitch of his brow behind his fingers. Sidney had to admit, this was a stubborn one, but so was he. He never lost an argument. He was not about to give up his perfect record now.

Again – he presented the paper.

Again - it was pushed back towards him.

He licked his lips, this time not bothering to hide his glare as he stared his adversary down.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. You can either accept this or we can be here all night. I'm not leaving until you cooperate."

Backing his offer with a tight lipped frown, he pushed it to his silent antagonist.

And again – the soda machine spat his dollar out.

"Chief, I've got some spare change . . ." Derek said, jingling a pair of quarters in his palm.

Sidney did not as much as flick his gaze towards the surgeon, choosing instead to smooth his dollar for the umpteenth time. Angie sighed behind Derek, prompting him to look back at the small line that had formed. Tyler had adopted a rather Victor-like pose, crossing his arms and tapping his foot irately. Dr. Clarks brought up the rear, sighing as Angie had, but a bit more discretely.

"You know, some of us have breaks this is cutting into." Tyler growled.

Sidney did react to that, turning slightly towards them and running them through with a cold stare. The four jumped and skittered away as he slowly returned his evil eye on the machine.

"Let's just use the machine on the 7th floor." Clarks said. The other three murmured in agreement and followed him out of the lounge, leaving the room in silence, save for the hum of the machine and the crinkling of paper.

-----

3:14pm

"He's still there?"

Leslie and Tyler peeked into the break room. Sure enough, Sidney Kasal was standing ever resilient before the vending machine. They shared a glance and a shrug as they continued with their round.

-----

4: 35pm

"Hey Chief . . ."

Victor waved a piece of paper in front of Sidney's face. "This proposal isn't going to sign itself."

A loud snap echoed in the room as the paper was yanked from his hand. Sidney held it to the soda machine, taking a pen from his chest pocket and scribbling his signature. He shoved the proposal into Victor's chest and sent him stumbling back a few steps.

The initial push had caught him off guard, causing his eyes to widen as he regained his balance. He slowly blinked them back to their normal size as he watched the endless exchange between man and machine. "Hm . . . and he says I need to get out more." he mumbled, shaking his head and returning to the lab.

-----

5:25pm

"Excuse me, sir?"

His secretary tenderly leaned in through the door. "Director Langston is calling on line one . . ."

"Take a message." Sidney snapped.

She stiffened at his command and anxiously slipped from the room.

-----

8:07pm

"So," Derek's eyes followed the dollar back and forth. "are we still having our meeting tomorrow morning?"

"Of course, Stiles. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been . . . . uh . . . preoccupied all day and I was thinking . . ."

"Dr. Stiles, your shift ended seven minutes ago. Go home."

"Oh . . . all right. Good night, Mr. Kasal."

Derek turned to leave, stopping at the door to look over his shoulder. "I've still got some spare change . . ." His form turned rigid and pale as Sidney's glare stabbed into him. He quickly rushed down the hall, evading certain disembowelment by a slim margin.

-----

1:40am

Victor wordlessly entered the lounge, his dark eyes briefly moving towards Sidney as he walked passed him. Exhaustion was slowly tugging at the corner of his eyes, but his hawk gaze remained sharp and focused. A soft grunt escaped him when his dollar was again refused.

Victor shrugged to himself, pouring a cup of coffee and returning back to his lab.

-----

4:32am

"Chief."

A soft tapping on his shoulder woke Sidney from his light doze. He peeled his forehead from the soda machine and slowly turned his glance towards the head of R&D. Victor pointed at the machine.

"It took your dollar."

Sidney blinked groggily before the words sunk in. He shot up straight, taking a moment to clear his throat and regain composure. He looked at the credit display, unable to suppress a smirk when he saw that it had, indeed, taken his money.

Another victory for Kasal.

He pressed the button for his desired beverage, feeling another wave of satisfaction as it gave him his drink and change without hinting at another confrontation. The hiss and pop of the elusive can screeched against the early morning silence. Sidney took a long sip of the soda, savoring the well earned spoils as he calmly left the room. Victor had never seen anyone get so much gratification from a vending machine. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That guy has issues . . ."

-----

A/N: Proof that Sidney truly is the most stubborn man alive! No one gets the best of him! Not man or beast or machine!

I know this was a rather short read, but I had to have it that way less the joke run dry before it ended (assuming it didn't already). This was a rather sporadic piece of work. I was working today (yes, I'm one of those weird people that works on weekends) and a co-worker was trying to get a soda from the machine with a dollar. Needless to say, the machine would have none of it, and he quit after two tries. I thought to myself, "Hm, Sidney Kasal wouldn't have given up that easily . . . hey, wait a minute . . ."

Thus, I began scribbling this out immediately. Yes, I've been working on _Paying the Price_ as well. The next chapter's almost done – I swears!

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my silly lil' one shot. Please let me know what you think!


End file.
